Amanda vs Jungle January Crescent Skirt

When Annie, rocking it over at Pretty Grievences, was all throwing down gauntlets for sewing with animal prints I was up for the challenge. And I’m not going to lie. My first thought was some kind of hideous leopard print cat suit that I could pretend to be Cheetara from ThunderCats in complete with face paint. Yup. This is what happens when you wake the crazy sewing beast. But imagine my despair when I made it over to Spotlight to discover a complete lack of stretch cheetah print. Heartbreaking I tell you. As I forlornly dragged my feet through the aisles I begged the animal print gods to bestow upon me any inspiration they could muster. Zebra! Leopard! Aardvark! I’d take it. Alas, I could find none. So I was rather surprised when I pottered on over to the reduced to clear quilting section and the print of the most elegant of the beasts on the savannah was there to greet me. Goodbye Cheetara and hello Giraffe of Glory!

I had a bit of a dig through my pattern pile and discovered the Sewaholic crescent skirt pattern that I bought in the middle of last year. With some very precarious pattern piece placement I managed to squeeze everything I needed out of a 1.3 metre chunk o’ fabric. Hard core! But wait, I think I hear something…

Ahh! It’s the excuse for more ridiculous photos than normal! That’s what I’m talking about. This skirt came together in a jiffy and I must admit to having super fun topstitching like a boss. Oh, dear. It’s been four sentences- time for a photo!

And while this didn’t take me too long to put together the construction was rather eventful. I had my machine have a lovely little short out compete with a flash of light and the circuit breaker to the house tripped. Craziness. Janome is okay now though I really think she is on her last legs (the duct tapped mag light I use as a machine light may have been the first sign of this, come to think of it). I think what the universe is saying is that my sewing is ELECTRIC! Oh, yes. I went there…

So what I liked about this pattern:

Super quick and easy. Skirts are like the cookies of the sewing world. Grab what you need, faff around for an hour and you have something awesome with no fuss or stress. Though unlike cookies you can’t eat your skirts. Unless you made a skirt out of cookies. Egads. I am a genius. 2013 challenge- cookie skirt…

The pockets. I’m totes converting to slash pockets (well except for the glory that is welt pockets because they are awesome) I’m thinking next time I make slash pockets I will go for a colour contrast to really play them up. Yup, I’m living on the edge.

What I will change in the future:

Try a size down. I had to take in 2″ on each side of the waist. At the centre back seam. Because I neglected to make a muslin. And I’d sewn those rad pockets. And perhaps serged them in place too. And they looked really good. And I didn’t want to unpick everything. And now I have the world’s tiniest centre back panel. Yeah, I live on the edge AND learnt a lesson. Fierce.

Try a plain fabric and some sassy piping. I really need to get over my fear of piping. I think the cray-cray piecing details on this skirt is its feature design element and piping would help emphasise that.

So what have I learnt from this endeavour? Show no fear in the jungle when it comes to animal prints or they will devour you! I really have a hankering to make an awesome leopard print circle skirt now… But first I need to finish my sewing dare from Gillian over at Crafting a Rainbow. I have been challenged to make something in a solid colour. Yup. No prints to hide mistakes and fitting issues- scary stuff. But I can do this because I am fierce like a tiger. ROWWWWWR!

Great post and loved the entertainment and had a few laughs along the way. The skirt looks great and hey when you’re wearing it you can’t see the back anyway… and if someone else is looking that close at your behind then they’re probably looking looking at the skirt but picturing what’s underneath it anyway LOL. Sorry to hear about your sewing machine being on her last legs but it’s always exciting looking around and getting a new one 🙂

I’ve run into the same problem with pockets a few times myself.. you get the beautifully finished and then realize the front is too big! grrr. I’d go for the quick solution there too myself! Skirt looks fab!!!! Now for the dread solids!

As with all your projects, this is fab! I can see you also had the same problem I did a few weeks ago: sizing is a real pain in the butt for me. I am never quite sure of the size, and I dread finishing a garment to find it is way too baggy…

Love this! Love the giraffe print. After I finished my first Crescent skirt, I had the same reaction you did, that I want to make another that highlights the seaming details. I’d love a lightweight denim one with bright colored topstitching.

Awesome skirt and awesome fabric! Can’t wait for your next sewing challenge. I need to get over my fear of piping too. I have seen some awesome dresses with piping detail and I really want to make one.

This is AWESOME! Great use of the fabric too, I love the giraffe print. This is totally wearable, although pretty sure you would wear the cat suit too!! I can’t find any animal print fabric that I like so perhaps my jungle January won’t happen 🙁

Cookie skirt!?! I believe it can be done. I’ve seen crazier out there. I mean if Lady Gaga can rock a meat dress surely you could pull off a cookie skirt! I just love your posts, your writing is so entertaining! And love the skirt!

Lol. Cookies Sew Along!! Do we need a sewing machine or oven? In any case, that’s great! Love your skirt and I think it will look wonderful in two colors, dark colored for the top yoke and light colored for shirred ..

What kind of crazy is that topshop? 🙁 I can seriously suggest a simple A-Line skirt in giraffe fabric as a quick and easy make to get your costume rocking. There is an easy one on the Burda site that you can download cheaply (the pattern) and it is very easy. Good luck 😀